Woodworking in America 2018
The title above is not a typo. May of this year marks the third bi-annual Handworks, an event that draws more than 2,000 woodworkers to Iowa every two years for two fun days of trying out the [...]
Use Hardboard Templates Instead of Prototypes
If I had the extra time and material, I’d build a full-blown prototype of every new design I create. Prototypes let you see in three-dimensions all the mistakes and awkwardness you cannot see on [...]
Table Saw Setup in my Near Future…I Hope
Most of my house rehab work to this point has been destruction rather than construction. For that, I’ve used a small kit a hand-held tools, both hand and power. I’ve gone through [...]
Shape a Mallet Out of a Branch Part 2
After cutting the branch to length, sawing around the neck and chipping away most of the wood around the handle, the time comes to grab a half-round rasp and begin rounding over the handle. Once [...]
Cutting Tools for Digital Woodworking
When woodworkers talk about their favorite hand tools, they might mention a treasured handplane — perhaps a superb pre-WWII Stanley Bedrock smoother outfitted with a Ron Hock blade or a beautiful [...]
Screwing up the Finish Won’t Ruin Your Project
I say this often. I’ve written it many times. Maybe I get the insight from the many years I’ve spent refinishing furniture. No matter how good or how careful you are, stuff still happens, and you [...]
2016 December to Remember Winners
It’s the beginning of a new year, and that means that our December to Remember Holiday Sweepstakes has come to an end. Thanks to everyone who entered and shared with their friends. [...]
Stripping with a Heat Gun
Some finishes are impenetrable by any stripper. That’s when you turn to stripping with a heat gun. My daughter-in-law found a dining table she really loved and wanted to refinish it. I was [...]
How to Shape a Mallet Out of a Branch
To initiate our fourth graders into woodworking, we offer them a branch and show them how to shape it into a mallet. The branch-mallet is a great project to introduce students of any age to [...]
Woe be it to the Double-Wide Workbench
Perhaps it’s the American love for excess. But no matter how many examples I cite or pleas I make, most beginning woodworkers seek to build workbenches that are entirely too wide. Most historical [...]
Up Your Game with the ‘Make Pretty’
When you make furniture in order to eat or meet a deadline (such as birthdays), it’s difficult to stop yourself from crossing the finish line as soon as possible. Years ago I discovered that [...]
3 Tips for Wedging Your Joints
Wedging joints adds great strength, but it also is risky. A wedge can split the work, it can fail to dive into the tenon (sometimes popping out of the tenon), or the tenon itself can split when [...]
